Shoe rack



' Oct. 16, 1928.

' I w. E. COOMBES SHOE RACK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 19. 1926 JW ZOct. 16, 1928.

W. E. COOMBES sacs RACK Filed July 13. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedGet. 16, 1928.

UNITED STATES A 1,687,930 PATENT OFFICE.

WARREN E. coormns, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T UNITED snonMACHINERY oonrorm'rrou, or PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION on NEWJERSEY.

SHOE RACK.

Application filed July 19,.

This invention relates to shoe racks such as are used to hold shoesbetween shoe-making operations and to carry them from one part of afactory to another during the various stages of their manufacture.

One of the most serious problems which have confronted shoemanufacturers has been that of economizin-g in the amount of floor spaceoccupied by racks utilized for carrying shoes. This problem has beenaggravated by the fact that care must be exercised to insure that theshoes are held in such a way as to avoid injury to them as they arecarried in the racks and by the .fact that during some stages in themanufacture of shoes, it is desirable or necessary to carry shoes bottomside up, and during other stages it is desirable to carry the shoes inright side up position. 1

In view of these facts, it has been'the practice, in some factories, tomake use of specially designed shoe racks of several dif ferent types inconnection with the various shoe-making operations. For example, in themaking room a'shelf rack is employed in connection with all operationsup to the operation in which the bottom filling is inserted in theshoes; in connection with that operation and subsequent operations up tothe time the lasts are pulled, a rack comprising pins for supportingshoes bottom side up is utilized; anchafter the lasts are pulled anothertype of shelf rack is employed for carrying the shoes in the treeiug andpacking rooms where the finishing operations are performed. I

This has resulted in the necessity of maintaining at hand a large numberof racks of each type employed in order that, if opera.- tions are heldup at one point, workmen performing operations earlier in the process ofshoe-making may be supplied withraclrs of the proper type. Thus, inaddition to the highcost of maintaining such racks, a large amount ofvaluable floor space is occupied by them, and considerable storagespace.

must be provided for surplus racks temporarily outof use. i

Accordingly, with a view tov reducing the cost of making shoes, somefactories have made use of one type-0f shoe rack throughout the entireprocess of shoe-making. f This presents'the advantage that, as theracks'are emptied, they can be shifted from onefpart- 1926. Serial No.128,386.

of the factory to another for use in connection with any operation forwhich they may be needed; In this way, the number of racks requiredisconsiderably reduced, less floor space is required than where racks ofseveral types are used, and little or no storage space for surplusracksis necessitated.

To this end, use has been made of a rack construction ofthe typedisclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,556,425, granted October6, 1925, upon an application filed in the name of W. E. Coombes 'et al.,which comprises relatively flat shoe-supporting members, or pins,arranged for contacting with the heel parts of uppers of shoes carriedin the rack bottom side up, atoe rest being provided to assist inpositioning and supporting the foreparts of the shoes.

The rack construction referred to is particularly adapted for use incairying shoes bottom side up, in a small amount of space, withoutsubjecting the shoes to the lih lihood of injury, butv at the, same timeis constructed and arranged for so holding the shoes that they can bereadily removed from the rack. This rack is used normally for carryinglasts or shoes bottom side up between operations performed upon shoesvent discoloration of the shoes from contact with the shoe-supportingmembers. Thus a rack of the type referred to can be used for carryingshoes at any stage in the process of shoe-making.

One difliculty which has beenexperienced in using such racks in themanner above inn dicated is that if shoes are placed upright upon thecovered pins with the heel ends of the shoes exten dingtoward the frontof the rack, the shoes ride up, on the toe rest, are

notevenly supported, and consequently tend.

to jostle one another, slide toward the back of the rack, and strike thebackrail in such a way as to causeinjury to the uppers of the shoes.

Onthe other hand, if the shoes are placed, with their heel endsextending toward the back of the rack, the counters of the shoes arelikely to be scraped or gouged by contact with the back rail, especiallywhen the covers become worn, or are discolored by the back rail orflannel cover in cases .where the same rack is used successively forcarrying black shoes and shoes of lighter colors. An additionalobjection to carrying shoes in this manner is that in order to preventdiscoloration of the foreparts by contact with the hands of theoperator, the shoes are grasped at the heel ends in removing them fromthe rack. This necessitates removal of the shoes from the back of therack, which is inconvenient or even difficult for the reason that theshoes must be lifted over the back rail.

In view of the foregoing, the present invention provides an improvedrack for carrying shoes, in which shoe-supporting and shoe-positioningmembers are arranged for adjustment relatively to each other to renderthe rack convertible for different uses.

Preferably, and as herein shown, the rack is provided with a pluralityof shoe-supporting pins, across which extends a movable bar which can belocated in either one of a plurality of positions along the pins bymeans of grooves in the body por ion of the rack adapted to receive theends of the bar. In one position the bar serves as a toe rest for shoescarried in the rackbottom side up, and in the other position the barserves as a heel stop for shoes carried in the rack in upright position.

These and other features of the invention will be understood from thefollowing description of a preferred embodiment of the invention and aredisclosed in the accompaying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspectiveview of a rack embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2' is a detailed perspective view illustrating a portion of a rackwith the adjustable bar in position to carry shoes bottom side up;

Fig. 3 is a detailed perspective view illustrating the bar in positionto carry shoes right side up; and

Fig. 4 is a detailed view of an end of the bar.

The illustrated rack, as shown in Fig. 1, comprises bottom frame members10 and end frame members 12 composed of steel angle sections securedtogether to form a rigid structure by means of braces 14 and 16,diagonals 18 and 20, and a tie rod 22. The bottom frame members 10 areprovided with casters 24 and bumpers 26 of well-known construction.Spaced from the bottom members 10 are bars 28 and cross pieces 30 whichform a shelf for carrying boxes containing shoe parts. 7

Riveted to inner portions of the end members 12 are channel sections 32positioned to engage and support wooden shelves 34 which constitute theshoe-supporting portions of the rack.

Each of the shelves 34 (see Figs. 1 and 2) comprises end pieces 36connected by a back rail 38 and a pin bar 40. Sec'uredtothe' uppersurface of the pin bar 40 by means of screws 42 are a plurality ofshoe-supporting members or pins 44, the rear ends of which are receivedin a groove 46 formed in the back rail 38. The pins adjacent the endpieces 36 are positioned in grooves 48. The bar 40, groove 46, andgrooves 48 are inclined to the horizontal in such manner that the pins44 are supported with their free ends tilted upwardly toward the frontof the rack. The construction just described provides means for securelysupporting the pins, but at the same time readily permits removal of thepins for purposes of replacement.

The pins are of the alternate wide and narrow construction disclosed inthe aforementioned patent, and are adapted normally to receive andsupport between them shoes in inverted position with the heel endportions of the uppers of the shoes in contact with the edges of thepins.

Means is provided for assisting in the supporting and positioning ofshoes either in inverted position or in upright position. As hereinshown, this means comprises a bar 50 provided at each end with a tenon52 as illustrated in Fig. 4. The end pieces 36 of each shelf areprovided with two sets of substantially vertical grooves 54 and 56,equally spaced from the back rail 38 at opposite ends of the shelf andshaped to receive the tenoned ends of the bar 50 to hold it,selectively, in either one of two positions in each of which the barextends across the pins parallel to the back rail. The two operativepositions of the bar are illustrated in Fig. 1 in connection with theshowing of the'upp'er and the lower shelves respectively.

The use of the rack is best illustrated with reference to Figs. 2 and 3.V 7

As indicated in Fig. 2, the bar 50 is positioned in the grooves 54 whichoperate to locate the bar in position to actas a toe rest for shoes,such as a shoe 58, the heel portion of which is supported upon the edgesof'the pins 44. This constitutes the normal use of the rack, and the bar50 ordinarily willbe left in the position shown until the rack is to beused as a treeing and packing room rack. The bar 50 is then removed fromthe grooves 54, a-cover 60 of flannel, paper or other sheet material isplaced over the pins, as shown in Fig. 3, and the bar is inserted in thegrooves 56. In this position the bar acts as a heel stop for shoes, suchas a shoe 62 placed on the cover 60, in upright position with its shankextending over the bar 50 and its heel in contact with that portiontheir heel ends extending outwardly as to be readily accessible from thefront of the rack.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent ot the United States is 1. A shoe rack comprising aplurality of shoe-supporting members, a shoe-positioning member, andmeans for locating the positioning member relatively to theshoe-supporting members in positions for contacting with differentportions of shoes carried in the rack at different stages of theirmanufacture for maintaining the shoes in position upon the supportingmembers.

2. A shoe rack compris'ng a plurality of shoe-supporting pins, and a barselectively adjustable into a plurality of positions along the pins forcontacting with different portions of shoes carriedin the rack atdifferent stages in the process of their'manutacture for mainta ning theshoes either in upright or in inverted position upon the pins.

3. In a shoe rack for carrying shoes either right side up or bottom sideup, a plurality of shoe-supporting members, a movable bar extendingacross the shoe-supporting members, and means selectively effective tohold 'the bar in posit on to act as a heel stop for shoes carried rightside up upon the shoesupporting members, .or to hold the bar in positionto act as a toe rest for shoes carried bottom side up upon theshoe-supporting members.

4. A shoe rack comprising a plurality of shoe-supporting members, and amember adjustable along the shoe-supporting members into posit on to actas a toe rest for shoes carried in the rack bottom side up, Or intoposition to act as a heel stop for shoes carried in the rack in uprightposition.

5. A shoe rack comprising a plurality of shoe-suppor ing pins, a movablebar extendng across the pins, means for locating the bar along the pinsin position to act as a toe rest for shoes carried on the pins bottomside up, and means for locating the bar along the pins in position toact as a heel'stop for shoes carried in the rack in upright position.

6.. A shoe rack comprising members for supporting shoes in invertedposition, a member for positioning shoes carried upon the supportingmembers, the positioning member being adjustable relatively to thesupporting members for rendering the rack convertible to use in carryingshoes in upright position, and means for holding the positioning memberin various positions of adjustment. 7

7. A shoe rack comprising a plurality of members, operative normally forsupporting shoes 11 inverted position, a shoe-positioning memberextending across the shoe-supportlng members, and .meansforco-ope'rating with the shoe-positioning member to locate it in eitherone of a plurality of positions along the shoe-supporting members.

8. A shoe rack comprising a frame, end I members supported in the frame,a pin bar connecting the end members, shoe-supportingmembers mounted onthe pin bar, a movable bar extending across the pins, and grooves in theend members for co-operatmg with the movable bar to locate it in eitherone of a plurality of positions along the pins. V

-9' A shoe rack shelf for carrying shoes either bottom side up or rightside up, comprising end members, a plurality of shoesupporting membersand a movable bar extending across the shoe-supporting members, the endmembers being provided with grooves for receiving. the bar to hold it nposition to act as a heel stop for shoes carried right side up, the endmembers also being provided with grooves for receiving the bar to holdit in position to act as atoe rest for shoes carried bottom side up.

10. 'A shoe rack shelf comprising end pieces, a connecting member and aback rail,

shoe-supporting members carried by the connecting member and back rail,the end pieces being provided with a plurality of sets of substantiallyvertically extending grooves,

anda removable bar constructed and ar- ARRENE. GOOMBES.

have signed my

